The Importance of Forgiving Yourself

Successfully battling chronic illness requires learning to forgive yourself.

“I forgive you.”

Those three words may be some of the most powerful in the world. It’s been said that forgiveness is a gift you give yourself and the other person.

While forgiving others is important, today we’re going to focus on self-forgiveness. If you’re battling a mental illness, such as bipolar disorder, you likely spend some time beating yourself. I know I do.

I spend many of my nights awake staring into the darkness, reliving all my worst mistakes. I remember every horrible thing I’ve ever said and all the nasty things I’ve done. Most people forgave me for those things decades ago, but I still hold them against myself.

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.” — Albert Einstein

When you’re learning to live with a chronic illness, your world can change from day today. A task you could do yesterday may be impossible today. The medication that worked last week is no more effective than popping M&M’s now.

Since you know every day can be unique, you constantly have to look for better ways to manage your illness. Like today’s quote, you are trying new things, and not all of them will be successful.

Forgive Yourself

When you mess up, take some time to forgive yourself. Acknowledge any pain you caused, but do your best to move forward. Staying stuck in a moment of failure accomplishes nothing. Instead, it leads to increased stress levels and sleepless nights.

“To err is human,” the old saying begins. You are human, so you’re going to mess up. Until you’re perfect, you have to forgive your imperfections.

For today, focus on forgiveness. Take a few minutes to write an answer for today’s journal prompt. Forgiving yourself will help put you back on the path to positivity.

Go Deeper

Use these prompts to help you dive deeper into this subject. If they inspire you to write a Medium story, please come back and leave a link to your post as a comment.

Journal Prompt: What is one thing you haven’t forgiven yourself for? Write a letter to yourself offering forgiveness.

Creative Writing Prompt: After years of self-loathing, a woman learns to forgive herself. Write a story about the reason she needed forgiveness. How did she finally find peace?

Until next time, keep fighting.

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